That's actually some really great news to hear.
Photograph by David S. Wallens
Official word from Larina Hintze, president of the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park: As of 8 a.m. on April 2, the full course is back open.
A recent FAA reassessment of an adjoining runway at Keystone Heights Airport took away the use of a large portion of the FIRM’s 1.55-mile road course–basically the half of the track containing the esses.
It was tough news for FIRM Drivers Club members. It was tough news for GRM, too, as we rely on that facility for testing our project cars as well as adding to our lap time database for new cars.
A March 25 emergency meeting of the Keystone Heights Airport Authority Board provided a plan going forward: The airport board will create a temporary new designation for the adjacent runway, which would allow use of the full track in its current configuration.
That use will be contingent on the track creating a new configuration that would then allow the runway to return to its original status. The proposed variance would be in place contingent on the track making progress toward that goal.
The tone of the meeting in general seemed to be very cordial toward finding a solution that works for the FIRM as well as the airport. That variance would be renewed on a monthly basis.
Short term, the FIRM can again open its full 1.55-mile course. Long term, we may still have a new configuration to start building a new database of laps on, but things look good for a beloved Florida track to get back to full operation soon.
[Editor's Note: Updated text posted at 10:20 a.m.]
That's actually some really great news to hear.
Amazing news to hear first thing in the morning.
That's great news.
My question is: How?
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Yes, this. I wanna know what got figured out
Just posting to let everyone know we've added an update that offers some more insight. 
In reply to Colin Wood :
Thanks for the added content. Glad it could be worked out.
I would love to see the ideas they have for a new layout. It seems pretty tight down in the "forbidden" area.
wvumtnbkr said:I would love to see the ideas they have for a new layout. It seems pretty tight down in the "forbidden" area.
We've discussed potential ideas with the FIRM folks, but it's irresponsible to say much while they're still in the planning phases and dealing with the various regulatory entities they'll have to please to make things happen. All of the ideas seem fun, though. A considerable portion of the existing track is still usable, it would just have to connect to itself in different ways.
Fingers crossed we get a proposed map soonish, though.
That's fantastic. I know they have big plans for the new layout, but at least we get to enjoy the old layout for now. The temporary short course was a little too simple.
That's excellent news and, it's very encouraging to see the cooperation between the airport and the track. That seems to be so rare these days.
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